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“Hey, Gav.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I had to come. You were ignoring my calls.”
“Yeah, because they were all about Dad and how bad off he was, and I had already told you not to discuss him with me anymore. You know how I feel about this, Eoin. I’m done enabling him or having it affect my life anymore.”
As I said it, I felt a bit hypocritical all over again. I knew that I had been avoiding my brother because I was trying to stuff my feelings down and not face them. I was also avoiding therapy because of it.
“Listen,” I tried to explain again for the millionth time. “If we keep cleaning up after Da’s messes, he’ll never hit rock bottom…”
“I think he has hit it—”
I tunneled my fingers through my hair.
“You always say that.”
“Please. Listen, Gav. It might be too late to clean up his mess now. We have to talk about this. He’s in a bad way. He could even be dying. You’re the next of kin, so…” He stopped talking and gave me a peculiar look. “Why do you have blood on your forehead?”
“Long story.”
“Usually is,” Eoin said. “Oh, I met your girlfriend. She opened the door when I first got here. She’s smokin’ hot! And she has a great rack.”
“I’m so glad you noticed,” I deadpanned. “What did you talk about?”
“Not much, just Da and the family. She seemed really interested.”
I could almost hear the penny drop as I realized why Maggie had started acting the way she had.
“Hold on a minute,” I said.
I slid my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. I tried to call Maggie but got no answer. I had just been over there, so I figured she was screening my calls.
I switched over to text. I typed out as heartfelt an apology as I could in the characters allowed.
It only took her a few seconds to respond. So few that there was no way she had actually read the message.
Thank you for helping me out as my fake fiancé, but I need real space. Don’t contact me again.
A gunshot to the heart would have hurt less.
Well, that was that, then.
As much as I wanted to keep trying, I also refused to be some kind of creepy stalker cliche. Besides which, I knew I should really be focusing on my family and career, rather than moping over the ending of my fake relationship. No matter how much I would have liked it to be real.
Part of me knew I would continue to do whatever it took to make her mine for real.
But not yet.
Maybe she was right– as she had so often been in the past– and that space was best for both of us.
I really had to deal with the issues that were confronting me.
I couldn’t run anymore.
“Everything okay?” Eoin asked me, a look of concern on his young face.
“Yeah. Well, kind of. Let’s go, little brother. We have a flight to catch.”
Chapter Fifteen – Gavin
The hospital was as depressing as it was when I’d been in there with my last knife wound. It wasn’t that it was dirty or anything. The NHS had really improved since the time of The Troubles. If anything, the place was a bit too sterile, not in the sense of cleanliness but overall.
Everything from the uniforms down to the wallpaper was devoid of any color or life. It was all done with a machine efficiency that was functional and effective, but not the sort of place you would want to spend a lot of time in. Although that could have partly been the point.
The doctor was pleasant enough. Her skirt suit matched her stark white lab coat, giving her the vague air of a super-villain. Her dark brown skin kept her from looking washed out.
“It’s a staph infection,” she explained as I looked through the glass partition and into my dad’s hospital room. “His immune system was already compromised, which left him even more vulnerable.”
“What are his chances?” I asked, more worried than I’d been in a while.
Eoin had been right, and I was glad he had come to find me. I regretted screening his calls, but I really had thought I was doing the right thing. At least I was here now, I reasoned, so as not to hate myself.
“Not sure, honestly. Though we can’t do anything without informed consent for extreme measures. He’s in no condition to sign, so it will need to be you. Without it, he will definitely die.”
“Right then,” I said, taking the clipboard she was holding and signing on the spot indicated.
“Oh, okay,” the doctor said, clearly surprised by my enthusiasm.
Eoin had apparently filled her in on my prior reluctance to come help.
“Do whatever’s needed,” I said, handing her back the clipboard.
That done, I went out to where Eoin was waiting. He looked worried and scared, which seemed to be his default state nowadays, the poor kid.
